On December 10 of last year, Daniel woke up to crackling sounds in his apartment in New Britain and at first thought it was the sound of sleet against the windows. Upon opening his bedroom door, he found heavy smoke in the burning home. Daniel quickly grabbed his cell phone and ran up the stairs to alert the family of four on the second floor, a mother and three daughters, aged 12, seven and three years old.

Upstairs neighbor Latasha King said Daniel kicked in the locked outer door and banged on the inner door until the oldest daughter woke up. He helped the daughters out of the home, made sure everyone had escaped and called 911.

Latasha King had not taken anything out of the apartment so she did not have her car keys. Daniel put King and her three daughters in his car with a blanket to keep them warm.

King said that, amazingly, her neighbor is rarely home and that she had only seen him perhaps twice since she moved in. She noted that there were two locked doors and she was certain that if he had not been home that night, there would be a different ending to the story.